*

It does not appear that Catholics took any part in the discussion: but, the effects of it were, to attract attention to the amount of revenue contributed by the people to the support of a clergy, who, being appointed or presented to parishes by the governor exclusively,† were regarded as the adherents of their patron, and opposed to the interests of the people. The historian of Maryland remarks: "there were some instances at that day which we shall not detail, that exhibited as much of the temporal,' in the temper and conduct of some of the clergy of the colony, as in their revenues." The present bishop of the Protestant church in Maryland, uses the following strong language: "Often, as I hear and read authentic evidence of the character of a large proportion of the clergy in the province of Maryland, two generations since, I am struck with wonder that GoD spared a church so universally corrupt, and did not utterly remove its candlestick out of its place."+

With the loss of influence of the established clergy, disappeared much of intolerance against Catholics. And as the discussions which ushered in the declaration of independence progressed, even the Protestant pulpit acknowledged that "In Maryland, they (the Catholics) have all the respectability which good birth, respectable connexions, and good estates can confer. They are not, moreover (as we are,) distracted and enfeebled by sects and parties."§ The author of the sermon from which this extract, is made says: "In order to save them (the Catholics) from persecution, and inspire them with ideas favourable to the government, this discourse was composed:" "but," he adds, "under so respectable a leader as Mr. Carroll, they all soon, at least in appearance, became good whigs, and concurred with their fellow revolutionists, in declaring against the misgovernment of Great Britain."||

Making allowance for his want of politeness in the use of nicknames, which the arrogance of the law church had made familiar to him, the Rev. gentleman is entitled to credit for the folling declaration:

"If any man, of an unprejudiced and ingenuous mind, forgetting, for a moment, that he is either a Protestant or a Papist, will sit down and read the popish controversy, I can almost answer for his rising up with this conviction strongly impressed on his mind, that Protestants have hardly shown themselves more superior to their adversaries in point of argument, than Papists have in good temper and good manners. When Catholics write or speak of Protestants, we are always mentioned with decency, if not with respect whereas,

The revenues of a benefice in Frederick county, were estimated at £1,000 sterling per annum, and the emoluments of many others were ample and on the increase.

McMahon, p. 398.

"Bishop Whittingham's Charge," June 1st, 1813.

§ Sermon preached in Queen Anne's parish, Prince George's county, Maryland, 1774.— Boucher, p. 290.

Boucher, p. 242.

we very rarely notice them, without bestowing on them some harsh and offensive epithet."*

In conclusion, the following extracts from the same sermon, delivered in Maryland, in 1774, while they exhibit the altered tone of those who had been the authors of the system by which Catholics had been degraded and oppressed, show how unworthy must have been the motives of men whose intelligence enabled them so well to do justice to those whom they had persecuted for years.

"Men really enlightened, and really liberal, will remember and acknowledge with gratitude, that chiefly to Papists do we owe the preservation of ancient literature; that in times of general anarchy and violence, the Romish clergy alone gave such cultivation to letters as the unimproved state of society then admitted of; and that in the cloisters of cathedrals, and in the solitude of monasteries they opened schools of public instruction, and to men of retired and studious minds, asylums from the turbulence of war."†

Parson Boucher continues: "I have no reluctance to declare, that Catholics seem to me to have no slight claims on us on the score of gratitude. For were they not Catholics who obtained the Magna Charta; who laid all the broad and firm foundation of this unparalleled structure of liberty, the British constitution; who enacted most of our best laws; who erected so many of the noble edifices which do so much honour to the parent state; who built and endowed all the national churches, and founded not only many eminent public schools, but also the two universities? These were great, substantial, and durable services, and such as justly entitle those who performed them to the appellation of great men. I will not degrade them by a comparison with the puny efforts and wordy services of later times; for which, however, places, pensions, and titles, have been lavishly bestowed. The descendants of those great men in the old times before us, the Papists of our own times, are no longer in any capacity of emulating the greatness of their ancestors; but their fortitude under trials of peculiar poignancy is almost as unexampled as their oppressions; and their acquiescence under a long series of accumulated wrongs, is such an instance of true patriotism, as entitles them to the highest respect. With a patient firmness of character, worthy of all praise and of all imitation, they have long submitted to such injuries and indignities, as their high-spirited forefathers would have ill brooked; and such as their undegenerate posterity. would not endure, were it not that they have the wisdom and the virtue to respect the laws more than their own personal feelings. Every thing most dear to the human heart has been torn from them, excepting their attachment to their religion, and their determination to love and bless those fellow-subjects, who unmindful of the duties resulting from their religion, and unmoved by so en

dearing an example, foolishly and wickedly continue to regard Papists as Samaritans, with whom they resolve to have no dealings.*"

Similar sentiments were probably never before heard from a Protestant pulpit in Maryland; and these were uttered to attach Catholics to the royal party, and only when the dawn of the revolution announced the rising of the sun of liberty; the precise period when the subject of these memoirs returned to his native country.

The convention of Maryland had held its first meeting at Annapolis, in June, 1774, and was again convened in November of that year, to hear the report of its deputies to congress. Charles Carroll of Carrolton was then an active and efficient member of this body, and at its meeting in December, was appointed one of the "committee of correspondence for the province." That patriotic conven tion concluded its session on the 12th of December, with the following appeal: "As our opposition to the settled plan of the British administration to enslave America, will be strengthened by a union of all ranks of men within this province, we do most earnestly recommend that all former differences about religion or politics, and all private animosities and quarrels of every kind, from henceforth cease, and be for ever buried in oblivion; and we entreat, we conjure every man, by his duty to God, his country, and his posterity, cordially to unite in defence of our common rights and liberties."

The patriotism of the people gave to the recommendations the force of law; and its concluding sentiments were the act of emancipation of the Catholics of Maryland. Throughout the active scenes of those times, Charles Carroll of Carrolton performed an important part. Among other committees of which he was a member, was the "Committee to prepare a declaration of rights and a form of government for this State."§ That committee incorporated in the " Declaration of rights," the important principle which had first been established in Maryland by its Catholic settlers one hundred and forty years before.

"Article XXXIII.-That as it is the duty of every man to worship God in such manner as he thinks most acceptable to him, all persons professing the Christian religion are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty, &c. Nor ought any person be compelled to frequent, or maintain, or contribute, unless on contract, to maintain any particular place of worship, or any particular ministry, &c."

The experience of seventy years has consecrated these principles in the affections of the people of Maryland, and insured to them immortality in that state in which "religious liberty obtained a home, its only home in the wide world, at the humble village which bore the name of St. Mary's," two hun

Boucher, pp. 288, 290.

The author says his property was confiscated, and himself solemnly declared a traitor. -Preface, page lxxxiv.

Proceedings of the Convention, p. 10.

Bancroft, vol. i. p. 247.

§ Ibid. p. 222.

Ibid. p. 314.

dred years ago. The learned and liberal Bancroft says of the founder of Maryland: "Calvert deserves to be ranked among the most wise and benevolent lawgivers of all ages. He was the first in the history of the Christian world to seek for religious security and peace by the practice of justice, and not by the exercise of power; to plan the establishment of popular institutions with the enjoyment of liberty of conscience; to advance the cause of civilization by recognizing the rightful equality of all Christian sects. The asylum of Catholics was the spot, where, in a remote corner of the world, on the banks of rivers which had as yet been hardly explored, the mild forbearance of a proprietary adopted religious freedom as the basis of the state."*

Thus distinguished by her services to the cause of religious liberty in her infancy, Maryland, in after times, became the mother of churches in the United States; and the subject of these memoirs the instrument in the hand of God for disseminating Catholic truth, and preserving Catholic unity in the great empire of freedom. Hence the writer conceived these sketches of Maryland's history appropriate as an introduction to the biography of her first bishop, and the history of the Catholic church in the United States.

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

ILLINOIS.--A new and large church was opened for divine service at Chicago, on last Christmas day. The old church, built about ten years ago, will be occupied by the German congregation. The Catholic population is rapidly increasing in this city.

OREGON TERRITORY.-Rev. Father De Smet, accompanied by four Fathers of the Society of Jesus and one lay brother, has embarked at Antwerp, on the Belgian brig "Indefatigable," for Valparaiso and Callao. The establishment which these Missionaries are about to found, will have its seat at Wallamette, where the central mission house of the Jesuits of Oregon is about to be erected. On their arrival, there will be ten Jesuit Fathers, of the province of Missouri, in the Territory. What may we not expect from the labours of so many apostolic men among the thousands of Indians, who now sit in darkness and in the shadow of death!

INDIANA. On the 17th December, the Right Rev. Bp. of Vincennes, Dr. De la Hailandiere, held an ordination in the Cathedral of that diocese, when Messrs. Martin Stalh and William Engeln, were ordained Sub-deacons.-Cath. Advocate.

KENTUCKY. On the 2nd of February last, Rt. Rev. Dr. Chabrat, Coadju

-

tor Bishop of Louisville, conferred the holy order of priesthood upon Messrs. Lavialle, Cull, Joyce, and Quinn, in the church of St. Thomas attached to the Diocesan Seminary.-Ibid.

NEW YORK.--Albany.-The Trustee system, by the almost unanimous wish of the congregation of St. Mary's of this city, and with the approbation of the Pastor and the Bishop of the diocese, has been abolished in that church. noble example indeed!

A

BOSTON.--The orthodox church in East Boston has been purchased by the Catholics of that place for $5,000. It is a splendid building, capacious and well finished. The width is 47 feet, and the length 64. There is a good basement for a school-room.-Pilot.

CANADA. The Catholics of Quebec assembled on the 14th January, and adopted measures for the erection of a suitable mansion for the Bishop of Quebec. Large sums were contributed for the purpose.

SOUTH AMERICA.-New Grenada.-About a year ago, both the Ecclesiastical and Civil Authorities of this young and populous Republic, solicited the See of Rome to have the Fathers of the Society of Jesus among them to instruct the youth, to labour among the Indians, &c. Their wishes are about to realized. A letter from Paris, dated the 9th of December, and received in this city, informs us that twelve Spanish Jesuit Fathers and six lay Brothers were about to sail for Carthagena.

ENGLAND.-The Very Rev. William Riddell, of Newcastle, has been appointed Bishop Coadjutor to the Rt. Rev. Dr. Mostyn, V. A. of the Northern District. His nomination is hailed with unbounded satisfaction. He was educated at the English college in Rome, and is only in his 39th year of age.

A large and respectable meeting was lately held by the Catholics of London, for the purpose of erecting an establishment of the "Sisters of Mercy" in the Metropolis.

A correspondent of the London Tablet assures us of the flourishing state the parish of Moorfields is in with regard to Catholicity. It is considered at an average, that there is not less than six Protestants received into the Catholic Church in Moorfields each week within the last five months, making, at least, the total number of one hundred and twenty.

OBITUARY.

DIED-On the 2nd December last, at Bordeaux, in France, Rev. SAMUEL COOPER, a convert to the Faith, who, for many years, edified the church in the United States by his charity and penitential life. He was a great benefactor to the Sisters of Charity in this country.

Towards the middle of February, at St. Mary's, Somerset, Ohio, Sister FRANCES WHELAN, a Nun of the order of St. Dominic.-R. 1. P.